NaNoWriMo - what's it all about?

[Twine88]

I know roughly the idea behind it, but I wondered if anyone had actually taken part and had any thoughts to share?

My novel is already in excess of the 50k but, is still all over the place and needs much editing.

Any thoughts appreciated, even if you considered it and decided no.

[Eolian]

I'm thinking of doing it (and live near the Lancashire - Cumbria border, Dunlurking ). I've never written before, but have had an idea for a book going round in my head for a while. I've got a Word doc full of ideas and have written the first draft of a couple of chapters. I can't decide how much of a plan I need to have. Will go and check out the NaNoWriNo website. Can't actually believe I could really write a whole book !

[Dunlurking]

Good luck everyone.

Eolian the book No Plot? No Problem! By Chris Baty who started the whole thing says you should only spend a week planning ahead, believe it or not, otherwise he thinks people will over think things or be stale before they start. So you are fine, if not overprepared. I shall be positively crippled by what I have already written/prepared. If you sign up the link to the Cumbria/Lancashire facebook group is in the Cumbria/Lancashire (England) region section on the NaNoWriMo website.

I have downloaded the Scrivener NaNoWriMo trial now. Next I need to fathom how how it works.....

[Twine88]

The thing that stopped me writing for the longest time was that I would sit and plan and feel like there was not enough there to get started or I would start writing then spend days obsessing over the wording of a paragraph.

The best advice I had was via 'Grammerly' and it simply said 'write badly' - its not saying go out of you way to write badly, more to accept the first thing you right is not necessarily going to be pure gold on the page. Instead accept there will be gaps, characters that are not fully formed etc..but keep going, don't look back, get it written. The finessing can then come later. This has been my approach and after ten years Of thinking about my story I finally got 30k of a story down.

My story is now at 60k words and I am still trying to finesse it. It may never be good enough, but I am proud that I have finally got it down!

I plan on using NaNo to fill in the last gaps and do another edit.

Goodluck to everyone!

[Twine88]

*Grammarly not Grammerly - oh the irony..you see why I need to do alot of editing..😳

[FretYeNotAllIsShiny]

I've done it for years. Some years I've planned, some I've winged it, and some I've actually started over. I usually start off quite well, fall behind and then do massive writing marathons. I once wrote 17k in 30 hours. My advice is to find your local group and dive in.

[Eolian]

An article I read on the NaNo website said the same actually, about writing badly. Seems like good advice, as you're going to need to edit anyway.
I won't need to edit much for grammar and spelling - I'm a languages teacher and grammar nut! I can imagine I'll be endlessly tweaking other things though.

[kungfupannda]

Can I make a suggestion? For may last novel (first one to be published - possibly coincidence!) I followed some advice I read in an article about the writing process of James Ellroy. Before I started it, I sat down and wrote a long (about 10,000 word) detailed summary of the story. Not just the bare bones of the plot - characterisation, themes, backstory, all of it. It was more of a shorthand version of the full book than a short synopsis. That book was the easiest write I've ever done, and I completed the first draft in 3 months. It gives you a clear roadmap, and helps to minimise writer's block. It helped that with that one I already had the entire plot in my head, but I'm now doing it with my current novel, and writing the summary is actually helping me to resolve some of the uncertainties and plot holes that I've been struggling with. For example, I was only about a third of the way in when I realised that the plot would be less contrived if a particular character was removed, so he's now out without me wasting any time actually writing him.
When I've finished the summary, I will print it out and then handwrite notes onto it - adding in specific ideas about dialogue, description etc so I know where all those things floating around in my head (or in my notebook) will actually go.
I'm about halfway through and I've spent about eight hours on it so far. It's taken a bit of getting used to - it still feels a bit like time-wasting, but I know it works.
It might be worth trying in the run-up to Nanowrimo.

[Eolian]

Sounds interesting, kungfupannda - that might well work better for me than a 'basic plot structure' type plan. I was never any good at planning essays - if I tried to make a plan, I ended up just ignoring it and letting the essay follow its own course anyway.

[RandomMcRandomface]

I'm of two minds about NaNo, having done it once and only having success (touch wood - talking to publishers now!) with a later, post-NaNo novel.

NaNo was good in that it got me writing, and I enjoyed the community. But on balance it didn't really work for me for the following reasons:

• Write now edit later is great in theory, but editing is such a brutal and boring process I think I made harder for myself having rushed in the first place, especially when things like resolving plot holes is required.
  
• I actually felt a little burnt out afterward and didn't end up doing any writing for a couple more months.
  
• The editing process was SO huge due to being obsessed with a word count I ran out of steam long before I finished and still haven't edited it to my satisfaction.
  
• This was especially true for dialogue, which IMO is best written slowly and almost spoken out loud while doing so?
  

The novel I am finally getting traction on I wrote slowly, took the time to resolve plot points as I went, and it hasn't required half the editing so feel I got to spend more time doing the "fun" part - the actual writing.

BUT like I said, it was a good first step and I don't want to be a downer.

I'd also be interested in what happens to NaNo novels, especially how many get edited properly later

[pontificationcentral]

You should all read Stephen King's 'On Writing' and Anne Lamott's 'Bird by Bird' before 1 Nov. they cheer me up every time. I'm even tempted to get a wee bird tattoo for lovely Anne. We use 'Shitty First Drafts' with students to get them past writers block.
If nothing else, it's fabulous procrastination that you can call research....
Good luck with NaNo! I'm too busy to play this year, but the new site looks like fun. Our local group is trying to lure us in with some sort of space cadet camp thing - I daren't delve or I will be sucked in - it might be the whole theme this year?

[graphista]

I've tried nano a couple of times but not cracked the 50k yet (was working then) but between currently not working (so no lack of time excuse) and inspired by my friend who's just had her nano novel published I'm gonna try again!

To those new to nano it's an amazing community and you can even write erotica or fanfic!

I'm torn between a YA fantasy i've had on back burner for years, detective (my favourite genre to read) or fanfic as I'm also a big fan of TV tie in.

Just seeing this post has inspired me, think I will be reading lots in prep tomorrow.

[Eolian]

Well I've signed up but I haven't quite got my head around how it all works yet! Following Kungfupannda's advice is working brilliantly for me - I needed something in between what NaNo seems to describe as a Planner or Pantser method. I am very bad at structured planning, so I sat down to write out a full plot summary instead, and was amazed to find that it all just flowed really easily. Thanks kfp!

[Dunlurking]

Thank you for all the advice. Really helpful. Kungfu that process sounds like the one Ken Follett uses as well. I'm going to try index cards for scenes first, on Scrivener, and see where that gets me.

[OvariesForgotHerPassword]

I've done it every year since I was 13 (now 22!), I love NaNo. The forums are great. Join some word wars and sprints! I'm hoping for a few 5k days and one 10k day this year. Total goal is 125,000 words. Last year I managed 100,000!

[Dunlurking]

Ovaries I am in awe

[graphista]

Just thought people might be interested, I'm watching on catch up Andrew Marr documentary on novel genres - there's going to be 3 - 1st is detective he's also doing fantasy and spy and there's guest spots with writers.

[thegirlinthecar]

This thread has convinced me to try it this year . I signed up ages ago but have now changed my idea . My problem is trying to edit too much as I go along and then never finish anything. Oh I'm going to look up that doc ^

[JasperDamerel]

I decided to do this a couple of days ago, having had an idea for a fanfic I want to write, so I'm abandoning my serious book for the month to binge write something for pure fun.

I'm going out tonight, though, which is annoying, as I will only have Monday night to plan.

[Dunlurking]

Jasper you're making me feel better. I was going to plan all this last week but it got sabotaged and a lot of November looks like being stolen from me as well by various forces, benign and malevolent Good luck.

[BelfastBloke]

Two tips:

Whoever asked about Scrivener, yes, absolutely get it. But don't feel you have to go through the whole instruction manual to learn it all - just start using it during NaNoWriMo - it's similar enough to Word and other WP programmes to dive straight in.

Also consider the 'Freedom' app, which turns off your internet for a specified period of time, leaving you much less temptation to procrastinate.

[JasperDamerel]

Tonight's planning planning is to see if I can work out who sent the anonymous letters and to decide which character's point of view I'm going to use.

[SpaceUnicorn]

I don't really have a plan

I have two characters, a rough premise, a 'feeling' of what I'm aiming for, and an opening line, but that's it.

Am I doomed to failure? How much prep do people usually do?

[SpaceUnicorn]

Are we having a Nano support thread, or should we continue on this one?

I'm nervous!!!

[Doublemint]

Space unicorn- I haven't planned much- I've got a huge back catalogue of blog posts that will hopefully provide a nice chunk of it. And I've planned a lot in my head and spoken at length to friends and family about the structure of it. It will have to be enough and I'm just going to go for it.
How many words are we supposed to do each day? Like what actually happens lol?
There's a meet up locally tomorrow 4-7.30 but I start a new job tomorrow so don't think I will be up for it! Would rather get comfy at home with the laptop but not sure...